Time Was, You Could Walk Half A Mile And Get A Train Ride For Free

The MTA is installing a fare box at the Tompkinsville stop of the Staten Island Railway*:

The free ride is coming to an end at the Tompkinsville Station of the Staten Island Railway.

The borough’s train line will be adding a new fare collection system at Tompkinsville, where many riders get off and walk to the nearby St. George Ferry Terminal, to save $2 on the fare, which currently is charged only at St. George.

Railway President John Gaul announced yesterday that construction is expected to begin this summer. A small entrance will be built on a platform to be constructed from the pedestrian bridge where Bay Street meets Victory Boulevard. Inside the unstaffed station, low turnstiles will be monitored by closed-circuit television. MetroCard vending machines will flank the turnstiles, he said.

When they’re up and running late next year, the new turnstiles are expected to add $550,000 a year to Railway coffers — money that is now lost when folks make the hike to and from the boat.

The new entrance is part of a $6.4 million pilot project to explore bringing fare collection back to at least some other stations along the 14-mile line.

“There’s a lot of interest in expanding fare collection, but it’s easier said than done, because our stations weren’t designed with that in mind,” Gaul said.

The fare was eliminated — except for St. George — in 1997 as part of the “One City, One Fare” program, when MetroCards replaced conductors checking tickets.

Since then, Railway riders have complained that the clientele onboard has become more unsavory, with criminals using the trains as a convenient getaway, particularly at night.

*Staten Island Railway Pub Crawls imperiled.

Yes. And?

But what is perverse is that people who can afford not to spend half their income on rent are probably doing so, too:

Arnold Somrah was spending almost half of his income on the Park Slope apartment he shared with a friend. The 24-year-old finally moved back into his parents’ Ozone Park home.

“You can’t go out. Your Friday and Saturday nights are done,” said Somrah, who was paying $750 a month for his basement room. Samrah is now saving to eventually buy in Florida. “It’s too expensive here.”

Nearly 530,000 renters in the city are spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing, a 14.9 percent jump from 1999, according to data released yesterday by Rep. Anthony Weiner.

“Financial advisors say, ‘You should spend no more than a third of your income on rent'” said Weiner. “That’s sounding more and more like a pipe dream.”

The Bronx is feeling the burden the most, with 32.85 percent of its renters paying half their income on rent in 2006. Manhattan (22.32 percent) had the lowest.

You Snooze, You Lose, Buddy, Fuhgeddaboudit!

Mrs. Markowitz swag-gers her way around town:

Who knew the first lady of Brooklyn was also its biggest booster?

Jamie Markowitz, the wife of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, scooped up eight pricey fiberglass place mats – works of art by pop artist Takashi Murakami – set aside for guests at a glitzy Brooklyn Museum gala.

The limited-edition Technicolor mats, which have sold for $1,000 on eBay after a similar event, were included in a grab bag of pricey freebies for guests celebrating the opening of the artist’s three-month exhibition last Thursday.

“It’s a little true,” Markowitz laughed Sunday when asked about an item on RadarOnline.com that painted her as a tad greedy.

Radar reported that when several guests who didn’t get a mat asked for one of her eight, she replied, “You guys really should have acted faster. This is Brooklyn!”

To another, she said, “You snooze, you lose, buddy. Forget it.”

Increased Rapid Transit For Commuters Today Or Some West Side Office Workers Forty Years From Now?

It’s obviously all about priorities. As large projects falter all across the city, one that may take decades to build is contingent on extending the 7 train, in effect forcing the MTA’s hand to commit billions for a project that will help exactly no one for years to come:

Transit officials have designated a worldwide developer to transform dismal rail yards on Manhattan’s far West Side into a resplendent commercial center of office towers, dwellings parks, shops and a school. The deal also includes an aspect meant to ensure that the No. 7 subway extension does not falter.

Tishman Speyer, which has interests in many countries and owns Rockefeller Center, won the bidding competition by offering slightly more than $1 billion — $39 million over its closest competitor.

Tishman Speyer received a 99-year lease on the Hudson Yards, which at 26 acres is the largest piece of undeveloped space left in Manhattan. The space actually includes two sections of rail yards, one on each side of 11th Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets

The project is to include four, possibly five, office towers; more than 3,000 housing units in seven buildings; 15 acres of parks; and a school. It would also include an unspecified cultural institution.

. . .

Planners have long said the development of the area was heavily dependent on extending the No. 7 line from Times Square to the Javits Convention Center area.

[MTA CFO Gary] Dellaverson said that to that end the deal between the MTA and Tishman included granting the developer the right to withhold lease payments to the transit agency in case of construction delays on the No. 7 extension.

With deals like this, it’s no wonder that some have criticized the congestion pricing plan’s lack of specifics.

Not In The Middle Of My Upper East Side Block

Isn’t the point of building a subway to “change the lifestyle”? No, never mind the people who live past First Avenue:

The MTA will re-evaluate a planned entrance to the Second Avenue subway slated for East 72nd Street in the wake of two lawsuits filed by area residents, their lawyer said yesterday.

In suits filed last month, four co-ops are seeking to have the entrance, now set to be built between First and Second avenues, moved to a corner or scaled down.

The residents also want the MTA to redo an environmental review.

“Before we make any final determination to proceed with an entrance . . . we will complete the additional evaluations,” agency lawyer Anthony Semancik told a community meeting last night.

The project would “change the lifestyle of the people who live there,” said Susan Chandler, who lives in one of the buildings affected.